Gao Zhisheng receives prison visit from his family

February 27, 2013

We received the good news that Gao Zhisheng was granted a visit by his family on February 12th! His wife Geng He has written this message that she would like to pass on to all who have been working on Amnesty's campaign to free Gao::

"Following a Letter-Writing Marathon ('Write for Rights') organized by Amnesty International at the end of last year and the international community’s actions, the family of the Gao Zhisheng was granted a second prison visit on 12 January of this year. It is a small improvement, but it could not be achieved without the international community’s concerns and the effort and support from the membership of Amnesty International, for which my family and I feel most grateful. I hope Amnesty International will continue to promote this activity, allowing more people to come to know my husband’s situation, until he gains his freedom."

While it is very difficult to know exactly what led to the prison visit being granted, the huge amount of action generated by the Write for Rights may have contributed, and has definitely been greatly appreciated by his family.

Gao's wrongful detainment was one of the central campaigns during Amnesty International's global letter-writing marathon that took place on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. Amnesty supporters from over 80 countries wrote 1.8 million letter and eactions to bring about freedom and justice.

Once recognized by Chinese authorities as one of the top lawyers in the country, Gao fell into disfavour for his human rights work, and was detained in 2006. During his detainment over the past several years, he has been tortured "within an inch of his life". He is currently being held in Shaya county prison in northwest China.